


A Walk by the River

by HASA_Archivist



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Drama, First Age
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2015-06-04
Packaged: 2018-04-02 19:37:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4072077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HASA_Archivist/pseuds/HASA_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The grief of Finduilas and Gwindor, as each considers the loss of the  other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Walk by the River

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the HASA Transition Team: This story was originally archived at [HASA](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Henneth_Ann%C3%BBn_Story_Archive), which closed in February 2015. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in February 2015. We posted announcements about the move, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this author, please contact The HASA Transition Team using the e-mail address on the [HASA collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hasa/profile).

The elf maid's steps were slow and steady as she walked along the bank of the rushing Narog. Yet inside Finduilas had never felt so frail. Only through the strength of will known to her line she held herself together, kept the tears at bay.

He had not returned, he who had set off so sure, so alive and proud as he paraded past her with a white favour hidden under the plates of his gleaming armour. She'd sensed the undercurrent of apprehension in the crowd. Her father sat with grim look as he watched the company pass. But her love had shown nothing but courage and was an image of wonder with his warrior's braids flying in the wind as he waved her farewell.

The thought of his face, those noble and sculpted features, brought a dull pain in her chest and left her gasping for breath in her grief. It was a far cry from the nervous skittering of her heart when she had first looked upon him as a woman grown.

Brave, courageous. That was what she had been told, it had been a valiant end.

Finally sorrow overcame Finduilas; she sank down on the mud and grass wrapping her arms about herself. They should have walked these banks together. Instead she mourned him, cold and alone.

* * *

And so he mourned her by those rushing waters… only it was many years later. Only after he had returned unlooked for in the company of a dark stranger. He mourned her even as he watched her living and loving in that stranger's company.

Watching her slender figure stroll alongside the proud and straight countenance of Turin was like looking into a cruel mirror of the past. It was once his strong arm that had steadied her steps. Unable to look any longer, Gwindor cast his eyes to the foaming waters, glad that they flowed too fast to reflect his distorted form. Could it really have been this body that swung her laughing over the shallows? Was it so long ago that she slipped that favour under his armour to keep over his heart?

That white square of cloth and its fine embroidery had not kept for long on those gore drenched plains. But in his mind they had stayed bright and shining, a glorious memory of her that kept him sane through the shadows and horrors.

A memory she should have stayed.

For beholding her now and knowing what could never be again was an agony. As he managed to turn away Gwindor clenched the ragged cloth in his hands and wept. Faelivrin was lost to him.

* * *

_A/N_ : _Thanks to WindSurfBabe for some well needed picking apart on this!_


End file.
